He was a war veteran: He
served in the US Navy during
the Korean Conflict aboard
the U.S.S. Dixie. During his enlistment, he visited Hiroshima, Japan.
Witnessing the results of the nuclear explosion there was transformative for
him. He became an avid anti-war peace activist.

He was best known in Danbury
for his anti-war activism and as the producer of Earth Matters, a weekly TV
program.

He was a fixture in front of
the Danbury Library for years, standing there evening after evening, sunshine,
rain or snow, protesting the Gulf war
and other wars and wars in general.

He used to organize vigils in remembrance
of the victims of Hiroshima atomic bombing by USA. And, long years back, when
hardly anyone talked about it, he campaigned against the Indian Point Nuclear
Power Plant at Buchanan, NY, within a 25 mile radius of which Danbury falls,
pointing out the dangers it posed to millions of people.

To get the full measure of the
man, it should be noted that he protested:

against the sanctions on Iraq in the 90s (on the
ground that they were killing innocent children without having any effect on
Saddam and his family);

against the 1991 Operation
Desert Storm following Iraq’s invasion and occupation of Kuwait (on the
ground that a peaceful resolution had been offered by Iraq but was spurned by
the US);

against the March 2003 invasion of Iraq by the “coalition of the
willing”, led by US, in relation to alleged possession of Weapons of Mass
Destruction and alleged imminent attack on the US by Saddam Hussein(on the
ground that there was no evidence of stockpiling of these weapons by Iraq and
no evidence of an imminent attack);

against the continued US military presence
and operations in Iraq even after the official cessation of combat operations
0n May 1;

against the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan in retaliation of the Sept
11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in Manhattan (on the ground that
Afghanistan had nothing to do with the said terrorist attack and, in addition,
the Taliban had expressed its willingness to hand over Osama bin Laden to a
mutually acceptable third country, but the US had rejected the offer)

He protested against these wars
before they started and even when they were in full swing. These protests were
not easy when the country was seemingly awash with American flags flying from
every household and every car.

He was given the finger by drivers who drove past.
Obscenities were hurled at him. He was called a traitor. One irate driver even
attempted to run over him and Walter barely escaped.

Walter did not let any of
this faze him. He had the courage of is convictions and he returned to his post
in front of the Danbury Library with more signs and more fliers.

In addition to conveying his
message through such vigils and protests, in 1987 he started producing and
airing every week a 60 minute program, Earth Matters, at 7 pm every Wednesday,
on the Public Access Chanel 23 of Comcast. He then put together a network, and soon Earth Matters
was being aired in all of Connecticut and beyond through cable companies that
operated in those areas.

In the Comcast studio he
produced and aired great shows of the kind that were not seen on mainstream
media.

Shows on women’s suffrage, on animal and human rights and
environmentalism, on the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, on the Iraq war, on
Israel-Palestinian conflict.

One of the most controversial shows he aired was
about the 1967 Israeli attack on USS Liberty, a lightly armed surveillance
ship, while it was in international waters off the coast of Gaza during the
Israeli Six Day War with Egypt and Jordan over Palestinian territory – an
attack which resulted in 34 US sailors being killed and 174 injured, many
badly.

A memorial service for Walter
was held on Saturday, February 11 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of
Danbury, 24 Clapboard Ridge Road, Danbury.

Present in the packed hall of
the Unitarian Universalist Congregation were family members and, among
others, Lynn Taborsak, Dave King and
Candiann of Comcast Cable Vision, Tony Barrett (he hosted many of the Earth
Matters episodes) , Robert Garavel, Michael Toto (he now heads, with Bill
Collins, Chapter 18/ local Veterans for Peace Org formerly chaired by
Walter), Tracy, Andrew Ziegler, David Bonan and myself, a longtime friend
of Walter, his companion in peace vigils and his helper in the production of
Earth Matters and its distribution.

About Me

Gulamhusein A. Abba is an 88-year-old writer with more than 60 years in journalism. He is originally from Bombay (now Mumbai), where his writings have been published in almost all the important news media, in English, Urdu, Gujarati and Marathi, and where he functioned in various capacities, including reporter, news and political analyst, columnist, editor and publisher.
He was also a trade unionist,
peace and justice activist and took part in political activities.
As a trade unionist he organized the maritime petty officers and the film studio workers.
He founded and was the Chairman of the Rule of Law Committee and Taxi Users' Association
In the US, he is the chairman of Justice for Palestinians Committee, and, The Danbury Committee for World Peace.
In May of 2011, The Danbury Bar Association conferred on him the prestigious Honorary AMERICAN DREAM AWARD.